Scout Framework
The Science of a Fun Community
There is no Maslow's hierarchy of fun. There is real research on leisure, motivation and social infrastructure — and it has never been assembled into something a city can be measured against. That is what Scout is building.
Our definition
Community fun is a community's capacity to provide accessible, varied, socially engaging and emotionally rewarding leisure experiences.
The Scout Hierarchy of Fun
Five levels, read from the bottom up. Each one is easier to satisfy when the level beneath it already is — but unlike Maslow, they are not strictly sequential. Decades of testing rejected that part of his model, and we don't repeat the mistake: a city can have extraordinary festivals and terrible everyday access.
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Collective energy
Does the city ever feel alive together?
Festivals, game nights, markets, concerts, parades. Shared attention on the same thing at the same time is the emotional peak of community leisure, and it depends on all four levels below it.
Durkheim's collective effervescence, revived in modern work on shared emotional experience and civic attachment.
- 4
Belonging
Is there somewhere to be with other people?
Third places — cafés, parks, libraries, bars, community centers — host the low-stakes repeat contact that turns residents into acquaintances and acquaintances into friends.
Ray Oldenburg's third-place theory; social infrastructure research (Klinenberg) on how physical venues determine whether social ties form at all.
- 3
Discovery
Is there anything new?
Novelty is what keeps a place from going stale. Rotating events, seasonal programming and options a resident hasn't already exhausted keep the same city interesting in year five.
Leisure Satisfaction research treats novelty and stimulation as a distinct source of satisfaction, separate from relaxation.
- 2
Choice & agency
Is there something for the person you actually are?
Fun requires a decision that feels like yours. A city with fifty identical sports bars offers volume, not choice — the spread across audiences, budgets, settings and moods is what matters.
Self-Determination Theory: autonomy is one of three basic psychological needs behind intrinsic motivation.
- 1
Access
Can people actually participate?
Cost, distance, parking, transit and physical effort decide whether an option is real or theoretical. A city full of things you can't get to or can't afford has options on paper only.
Leisure constraints research (Crawford & Godbey) separates structural, interpersonal and intrapersonal barriers. Structural ones bind first.
What we measure
The hierarchy is the theory. The Scout Public Life Index measures the enabling environment — the shared, civic, low-cost infrastructure a city provides. Community Connection measures the interaction outcome: the opportunities for gathering and repeat contact that environment produces.
The Scout Public Life Index
Which cities give people the strongest shared places to live life outside the home?
- 25% Public Space Access
- 20% Low-Cost Participation
- 20% Gathering Infrastructure
- 15% Recurring Community Activity
- 10% Public Events & Collective Energy
- 10% Public Life Variety
The Scout Community Connection Index
Where a city gives people somewhere to be, together
- 25% Third place density
- 20% Gathering opportunity
- 20% Community event activity
- 15% Recurring participation
- 10% Accessible social life
- 10% Social variety
Version 1 weights are provisional
We are not going to pretend the weights are settled science. They are a stated starting point. Scout is collecting resident responses to one question — how easy is it to find something enjoyable to do in your city — and will publish which dimensions actually predict that answer, then revise the weights in public.
Everything is normalized so the index measures character, not size: social infrastructure, events and bookable inventory are counted per 100 published places, and variety is measured by evenness across categories rather than raw totals.